Christmas with Irish Brigade (and a few other stories)

Harpers Weekly Christmas 1863 - Santa visiting a Union Camp

Christmas was one of the few times during the Civil War that the common soldiers felt some relief from the battlefields and the tedium of camp life.   Music was a big part of the celebrations.   The first Christmas experienced by the Fighting 69th in 1861 is described in detail by David Power Conyngham, a major in the brigade,  in his 1867 book "The Irish Brigade and it's Campaigns" - here's a passage:

‘Near one of the huge fires a kind of arbor was nicely constructed of the branches of trees, which were so interwoven on one another as to form a kind of wall. Inside this, some were seated on logs, some reclining in true Turkish style. Seated near the fire was Johnny Flaherty, discoursing sweet music from his violin. 

Johnny hailed from Boston; was a musical genius, in his way, and though only fourteen years of age, could play on the bagpipes, piano, and Heaven knows how many other instruments; beside him sat his father, fingering the chanters of a bagpipe in elegant style. It is no wonder that most of the regiment were gathered around there, for it was Christmas Eve, and home-thoughts and home-longings were crowding on them; and old scenes and fancies would arise with sad and loving memories, until the heart grew weary, and even the truest and tenderest longed for home associations this blessed Christmas Eve.’ 

He goes on to describe more of the Christmas celebration:

 "for now they enjoyed the music that the O’Flaherty father and son shared around the campfire. Jigs, reels and doubles were danced, and stories were told. Songs such as ‘The girl I left behind me’, ‘Home, Sweet Home’, ‘The Rapparee’, ‘The Green above the Red’ and ‘Fontenoy’ were amongst the favourites as the drink flowed.  The dance is enlivened by laugh, song, story, and music; and the canteen, filled with wretched “commissary,” goes freely around, for the men wish to observe Christmas-times right freely. . .

 A bell was sounded to bring the Irishmen to midnight mass, which was celebrated that year by Fathers Willet and Dillon. Log benches had been prepared in front of the chapel tents, and the responses were delivered by Quartermaster Haverty and Captain O’Sullivan. Another mass followed the next day, Christmas morning, and was this time said in the open air. Following this the Irish returned to their camp to celebrate the remainder of the 25^th."

I found many references to Christmas in letters and journals from soldiers.   Many evoke childhood memories of the anticipation of receiving a Christmas present, a fond family gathering, or of a little wilder Christmas party.   Here are a few of my favorites:

"Christmas morning a fine one.  The boys began to take their Christmas last night.  A good deal of drunkenness in camp.  In the morning the captain gave us a treat of egg nogg.   One-half the boys very tight by nine o’clock…Never saw so many drunk men before.  It might be said with propriety that the 7th  regiment was drunk on the 25th."   

-  David Phillips, 7th Tennessee Infantry

What evokes childhood more than the memory of going to bed on Christmas eve, knowing presents await!   It was common during the war for soldiers to receive boxes at Christmas containing many things that they could not get in camp - special foods and treats; whiskey, wine, and other spirits; songsters and sheet music; and what many really wanted and needed - warm clothes to get through a long winter ahead.

"December 24th

…It is rumored that there are sundry boxes and mysterious parcels over at Stoneman’s Station directed to us.  We retire to sleep with feelings akin to those of children expecting Santa Claus.  We have become very childish in some manners – grub being one of them. 

Wednesday, Dec. 25, 1862. 

Pleasant weather.  Since we do not have a chaplain, this morning we held a hymn-service instead.  I enjoyed the music – reminded me of Papa’s and Edward’s singing at home.  I enjoyed the hymns with the familiar tunes, as On Jordan’s Stormy Banks, When I Can Read My Title Clear, Rock of Ages, Silent Night.   I don’t know why sermons at Christmas are necessary.  Bible reading and hymn singing are sufficient – in time of war perhaps more meaning ful than sermons.        

- Franklin L. Riley, Co. B, 16th Mississippi Infantry

I was not surprised to see Silent Night appear in one diary entry, and that singing was more meaningful than a sermon in this passage.

Some saved their most precious things for a Christmas Celebration. 

December 24, 1863

The night was very cold but the day beautiful. I sent out a foraging party which procured 30 bushels of corn & half a ton of hay. We had an Inspection. I corrected the rolls & examined the state of the rations. “Tis the night before Christmas” – not exactly of civilization yet I have seen many worse days & nights than this…Inasmuch as I shall have no time to morrow I drank to night the last of a bottle of wine I brought from home & wished Merry Christmas to everyone who deserves it.  

- Charles B. Haydon, Co. I, 2nd Michigan Infantry

And it's great to see that Santa arrived for this soldier - even if a few days late. 

Dec. 25th Christmas day, but “nary holiday for the soldier boy, far away from the sweet home where of the watched with intense eagerness for the coming of Christmas, expecting to see “Old Santa Claus.”

December 27th. Santa Claus got here at last. Several boxes for W.L.A. arrived today with eatables and other good things sent by those at home to let us know that though we are far from them they still remember us. Many blessings from Him be upon those loved ones at home.    

- George Albert Grammer, Warren (Miss.) Light Artillery

Hope you and yours have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Sarah Emma Edmondson - Civil War Soldier and Spy

 Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction, and the story of Sarah Emma Edmondson, daughter of an Irish Immigrant falls directly in that category.   I recently read her book "Nurse and Spy in the Union Army" - a best seller in the mid 1800's with over 170,000 copies sold.  (Uncle Tom's Cabin, the most popular book of the era sold 330,000 copies at the time.)

 Her story is better than most fiction from the Civil War.    Imagine a woman disguised as a man, who volunteers to disguise herself as a woman to spy against the enemy?   But let's start with her background.    Her mother came from Ireland before the war and married a Scottish Immigrant she met in Canada.   Sarah was born in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia in 1841.  

Growing up in a farming family in Nova Scotia at that time was tough and Sarah developed a wanderlust at an early age.   She had read about the fictional lady pirate, Captain Fanny Campbell, and admired her courage and ability to command a pirate ship.   After reading the book she wrote in her diary  “I felt as if an angel had touched me with a live coal from off the altar….I went home that night with the problem of my life solved.”   But she also noted a perceived flaw in Fanny and wrote   “I regretted that she had no higher ambition than running after a man.” 

Sarah Edmondson

A major life change was forced upon her at age 17 when her strict father decided to marry her of to a much older man.   She had seen her sisters sold off like that and decided that being married to an old farmer was not for her.   She ran away and changed her same to Sarah Edmonds.    

She feared that even with the changed name her father would find her.   So she did something radical for the time -  cut off her hair, tanned her face with stain,  and dressed as a man.    Sarah was tall (5'6") for a woman of her time and worked on a farm so she felt she could pull it off.   And she grew up learning  how to ride and shoot as well as most men.   So she established male persona.   The name she chose was Frank Thompson - who would soon become a soldier for the Union Army.    

But first Frank chose a career that would require travel all over Northeastern Canada and into the United States  - a  bible salesman!  Frank did well selling for Hurlbut and Company, making $100 a month - a good wage for the day.   Frank was good at it!!   The boss even said that in his 30 years on the job, no one outsold Frank Thompson.  

 Frank also dated young women to keep up his male persona  and  wrote of one  “I came very near to marrying a pretty little girl that was bound that I should not leave Nova Scotia without her.”    It does make you wonder what the courtship was like!

Frank Thompson

In spring of 1861 Frank was in Flint Michigan when the Civil War broke out.    Out of loyalty to her adopted country she enlisted.   Then she realized that she would have to pass an Army physical.  At the time the medical officer was  supposed to examine recruits stripped to make sure the body was intact and disease free.

Frank knew that  so many people were joining up that the physical was generally just a few questions and a cursory look see.  Frank did not make it past the doctor  on the first try, not because of her sex , but because of her height.   She  persisted and applied a second time to another regiment, as the regiments needed bodies and quota's were not being met.  

She was also worried about her hands as they had lost the rough calluses from her farm life.    The second doctor's exam was not as thorough - he only asked  Frank  how he made a living and that was it - he gave her a  firm handshake and she was in.  

 On May 25, 1861, at age 19, Emma  emerged onto the streets of Detroit as Private Frank Thompson, Company F, Second Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment, beginning yet another new life as a soldier.  

The regiment was soon to get ready to travel to Washington and shortly afterwards Frank would experience first hand the Battle of Bull Run.   The story is about to get better....

Mary Sophia Hill - An Irish Nurse's Adventures

 Mary Sophia Hill served as a volunteer nurse for the 6th Louisiana Regiment during the first few years of the Civil War.   My last blog recounted those experiences - but they were just the beginning of her adventures.

After months tending to sick and wounded in the field hospitals of Virginia, Mary tired of life in the field.   In 1863, she decided to return to Ireland to attend to some financial matters (which she did not describe in her diary) and also to seek out some of the families of the soldiers she nursed to let them know of their sons service to the Confederacy and how they were faring.   

The logistics of her journey make an interesting story - she first had to obtain a pass in Union occupied New Orleans to leave the Confederate states.  Since she was from Ireland she was considered a British Subject so the local Union Authorities granted her passage on the steamer  "Morning Star" to New York City.   

Of course it didn't go well - she writes "on the morning we were to land in New York we struck a sandbar on the Jersey Coast, and had to be landed by lifeboat.  I got both a good scare and a good dunking,which latter was inconvenient, as the baggage was all on the boat."   

She was reunited with her bags at the Metropolitan Hotel in New York City, and took a Cunard steamer to Liverpool, and ferried to Dublin.  She very briefly described her time in Ireland as delightful.  She returned to America on the steamship Arabia, and arrived in Boston - where she visited Faneuil Hall. 

                                           The Arabia

After a long return journey she arrived in New Orleans in early 1864, and was arrested!   

She describes her first day of imprisonment in a  Union  occupied home in New Orleans - " In the course of the day I was ordered to come down stairs, as the Provost-Marshal, Major Porter, wanted to see me."  

"He introduced himself with a great deal of pomp and arrogance,  and he had come for the purpose of informing me that I must behave better to those who had charge of me and were acting under his orders. I told him I was glad really to know who I had to thank for the brutal treatment I was receiving, and I gave him a piece of my mind, at which he actually turned livid. I asked him what was I arrested for and what were the charges against me. He could not tell; had not looked over the papers".

She later found she was accused of spying.   Her acknowledged crimes were carrying letters to the enemy across the battle lines and also taking items of clothing and food to the soldiers. At least one of the “letters for the enemy” was to her brother, Sam.

Mary further describes the events "If those charges were to be proven against me, of course I would be some time in this delightful retreat, and as I did not feel like paying two dollars a day for board at the table of that irascible man Lawrence, as a Government prisoner I would be a boarder.  This led to quite a lively discussion. I protested as a British subject and demanded to see the Consul. "   

Her efforts were in vain, and she was convicted - but received the sentence of removal from New Orleans to Confederate occupied territory, where she remained nursing wounded soldiers until the war ended.   

In peacetime, she became the first matron of a hospital in Louisiana, where she cared for injured patients for some time until its stability was assured. She then went to live with a nephew, William VanSlooten, in Brooklyn, N.Y., where she died of cancer on Jan. 7, 1902. 

Her funeral received much attention - as this article from the New Orleans Times Picayune of January 13th 1902 illustrates:

"When she died, aging Confederate veterans rallied to pay her homage. Eighteen of them provided an honor cortege for her casket, which had the flag of Camp 1, Army of Northern Virginia covering it. Her coffin was shipped home to Louisiana by the Illinois Central Railroad. She had requested to be buried in New Orleans."

 “A funeral at 9 o’clock in the morning is a rare occurrence in this city, and still more unusual is the sight of a large number of men in the twilight of life, some wearing the Confederate uniform of gray, reverently marching behind a hearse, while with martial tread a delegation of veterans walk along as pallbearers. Such a scene was witnessed yesterday morning, when, on the arrival of the 9:35 train of the Illinois Central, the remains of Miss Mary S. Hill were transferred to the hearse, and then accompanied to their last resting place in Greenwood Cemetery by veteran Confederates."

“Forty-one years ago Miss Hill was one of those ministering angels who, leaving their homes and firesides, and impelled by a call from on high, sought the battle fields and the crowded hospitals and devoted themselves to taking care of the dying and the wounded soldiers. She was a true type of feminine gentleness, charity and sympathy; with a sweet voice, a touch so light that care vanished at its charm, and footsteps as noiseless as a snowfall.”

It was fitting that she received the recognition she deserved in the end.   

One very interesting entry from her diary deserves a look,   in which she let her feelings out on the Irish involvement in the Civil War on the Union side.   

Disgusted by what she witnessed she wrote -  "Paddy was promised, over a glass of poteen, that his fortune was made if he went to America, where a choice of work awaited him, railroads in particular, and then the plantations.   Of course he is enchanted and goes, reaches Castle Garden, gets plenty of well drugged whiskey, and finds he is a soldier in full rig, with his musket by his side."

"If my voice could have reached and influenced the Irish, but few recruits would have joined the North, as they were only wonted as a human battering-ram for Genl. Grant to use against Richmond. Not by science of war did he prevail, but by dogged perseverance and the slaughter of hecatombs of foreigners, as the 'creme de la creme' of Yankeedom talked, and sent paid substitutes, but fought not themselves. General Grant having Europe for a recruiting ground, simply after a four years' incessant On to Richmond, out-numbered the Confederates." 

Her insights are pretty accurate when one studies the casualty record of the Unions Irish units! 

Mary Sophia Hill - Unsung Irish Civil War Hero

 In our first installment on the adventures of this brave Irish Nurse, we left her at the beginning of the war just after the battle of Bull Run.  

Mary Sophia Hill

She was horrified by the conditions the wounded soldiers had to endure long after the battle had ended, and describes her efforts to heal and comfort them.  She was still at a camp hospital a month after the battle and describes the situation: 

"Moved a mile further; ground for camping better, but water scarce and bad. General Ewell very much censured for not bringing up the reserve force into the battle at twelve o'clock, Sunday. Many lives would have been spared and many more prisoners taken; and if Beauregard had had cavalry to pursue to Washington, the war would have been ended, as the Northern troops were completely demoralised. The smell of the dead is awful in this camping-ground."

As she aided the wounded and sick of both sides things occasionally got out of hand - as she describes one occasion where the soldiers got their whiskey ration:

"As the men were so wet, an order was given for rations of whiskey. Consequences, nearly all were drunk and fighting. Ward-master and a little corporal went at it with bowie-knives, until I went in and separated them. Drunk as they were, they paid me the compliment of each giving up his knife when I demanded it. I had the doctor to put them under arrest until the whiskey evaporated. "    

Just under three months in service and she had earned the respect of the men she was treating as evidenced by that and also the kindness they showed her (which almost killed her!!)

"Men put a pretty arbor fence around my tent, which they shaded over; it looked very nice, and made the tent cool. And it was so kind of them to do it for me. But their kindness nearly killed me, as the structure was top-heavy; broke down while I was in bed, and nearly knocked the breath out of me. It was a fine moonlight night, and when I was able to scramble out, a good laugh set me all right, and my brother straightened up the tent. Next day my good friends made the structure less romantic but more substantial." 

A strong woman who  expressed  strong opinions in her diary on who was most fit to fight:

"Men raised in the country do not make hardy soldiers; those who knock round cities and towns are best, and can stand more fatigue and hardship, and the palm may be given for toughness to the Irish".

She encountered many of the famous personalities of the war, though left few thoughts other than the notations - "saw Stonewall Jackson riding through camp".   But one of the more detailed ones sticks out and gives another side to a famous Confederate Cavalryman:

"Gen. Stuart, what an indefatigable officer, nearly ubiquitous. I have met him everywhere, seen him with his command, travelling in the cars, amusing himself with children he seemed to love; I have also seen him in Richmond carrying a little school-girl's bag."

After nearly a year serving as a nurse she  began to long to return to her homes - her adopted home of New Orleans and her home in Ireland.   

We'll conclude her story next month as she takes her journey, her arrest as a spy,  and her strong opinions on the Irish involvement in the Civil War.  

The Irish Florence Nightingale of the South

 

The Irish Florence Nightingale of the South

Mary Sophia Hill, born in Dublin in 1819, is one of the many whose contributions were left in the fog of history.   Fortunately, she left a diary and other records of her story during and after the Civil War years, and it tells a fascinating tale. 

She came to America in 1850 with her brother and settled in New Orleans.   There she began a life as a teacher of Music and English.   Her diary starts just as the war broke out.   Her brother Samuel enlisted and became a private with the 6th Louisiana,  a regiment composed largely of Irishmen.

Some of her first thoughts:

" In my eyes, the only blot I ever saw in the sunny South was slavery; but as a stranger, an alien, I had no right to meddle".

"How well do I remember all the excitement attendant upon the State of Louisiana seceding from the Union!  Ay, as well as if it were to-day; though little dreaming at the time I should have been in any way mixed up in the trouble that followed."

And mixed up in it she was,  deciding to follow her brother's unit as it moved north, and volunteer her services, where she was to experience the First Battle of Bull Run. 

 

As she describes in her diary - "I concluded I would follow him to Virginia to care for him … and that I would, wherever needed, care for the wounded, the sick, and the distressed.”

While her brothers regiment did not see action at Bull Run, Mary saw plenty - in the field hospitals and around the camps.  

Before the battle Mary described one of her first encounters with the troops while she was setting up the hospital. 

"When the exercises had concluded, the officers rode up to the hospital, and asked, had we anything to give them to drink? Major James was spokesman. I promptly answered yes, and handed him a bottle marked Old Cognac, which had been sent up that day with hospital supplies. The gallant Major handed it around, each taking a drink, some more, some less; of course they finished it, and rode off. Next morning when Dr. McKelvy came his rounds to the hospital, I was surprised to see a merry twinkle in the heretofore steady old gentleman's eye when he looked at me, and an explosion of laughter when, upon asking me what I had given the officers to drink the evening before, I said a bottle of brandy which had come with the medical stores. "Why," he replied, "it was cough mixture I sent in a brandy bottle, and you could have seen this in pencil-mark under Old Cognac." The principal ingredient of the mixture was tartar-emetic. Of course all who drank of it were dreadfully sick, and at first the doctor thought they were poisoned, until he heard of the drink at the hospital, when he as well as the officers felt sure it was a practical joke of mine, and were very wroth against me. Some time after I brought some good brandy, and offered it to my friends. All, like gentlemen, partook, to bury the hatchet, except my old friend Captain Monaghan, afterward Colonel, who could not be tempted. "No, Madam, I have taken my first and last drink in a hospital." 

A few days latter the Battle of Bull Run began.  She describes her experience:

 

"21st of June. Battle of Manassas began at half-past seven in the morning. Day very hot. Fighting all day.
  22nd. Sunday. Plenty of prisoners taken and Sherman's whole battery captured; I saw it with my own eyes. Water very scarce; troops suffered awfully for want of it. When Johnston's men came in the morning, at their halt at Manassas, I sent them buckets of water and a bag of crackers, that they might not face their enemy black fasting. Spent day at hospital with Dr. Nott of Mobile, and Dr. Williams. Tied up and staunched the bleeding of many a poor fellow. I remember being asked by some to pick Minie balls out of their legs and arms, while they waited their turn of the doctors, who of course had to attend to the most serious cases first. They have not half supplies. I tore down all the window blinds, and rolled them into bandages; nor was there half hospital accommodations. I made good chicken-soup, and flew around generally. The sights of the wounded were fearful to look at."

She describes more of the incidents surrounding the hospital and caring for the wounded - including one where a sutler (merchant selling goods to soldiers) was selling water at outrageous prices to wounded soldiers.  It led to this observation -  "If I lived a hundred years I would never forget that day, when I saw human nature in all its noblest and all its meanest attributes."

More of this amazing woman's story next month - a trip back to Dublin, and more writings from the battlefields and beyond.  

The Emerald - Irish Songs of the Civil War Part 2

Perhaps the  most requested  thing  Civil War soldiers asked for in their letters home  were  "Songsters" - small pocket sized books that featured the lyrics of  popular songs of the day (and only the lyrics - there was no written music in the songsters). 

I recently attended a lecture/zoom presentation by Dr. Catherine Bateson on the Irish Music of the civil war.    In her  research she estimated that over 200 Irish Songs were published during the war years (and possibly many more) out of the over 11,000 pieces of sheet music that were produced during the conflict.

During the Zoom presentation I had asked if she was aware of any songsters that specifically were for the Irish and featured Irish Music,  but she was unable to answer due to many questions and time constraints.   But a fellow attendee directed me to one that he was aware of - "The  Emerald Book of Irish Melodies."   

  

Published in 1863 by Dick and Fitzgerald of New York and sold for only thirty cents a copy it was readily available to the public and the soldiers of the North.     There is no listed author so likely the publisher collected many popular songs of the day.   

The book contains over 100 songs -  the  "Sentimental, Comic, Convivial, Political, and Patriotic songs of Erinia".    It's divided into two sections, with the comic songs taking up the entirety of part 2.    Some of the songs tell what tune goes with the song,  but most don't - leaving it to the singer to use popular tunes of the day as the melody.  Melodies from traditional Irish songs such as "Roisin the Bow" and "The Irish Jaunting Car" were used in many of the songs of the time.  

The book also contained over 30 pages of ad's for other songsters and books published by Dick and Fitzgerald.   There were  a few other Irish themed songsters advertised - " The Charles O'Malley Irish Songster", "Fred Mays Comic Irish Songster", and "The Frisky Irish Songster" are a few examples.    

There were also ads for Songsters by the popular Minstrels of the day - Christy's, Billy Birch's, and Bryants - as well as one for "The Little Mac Songster" to cash in on the popularity of General George McClellan among the Union Soldiers - he was also a favorite of the members of the Irish Brigade.   

General George McClellan 

The book titles advertised present  some interesting slices of 1860's  everyday life.    Some of the titles that caught my eye - "The Manufacture of Liquors, Wine, and Cordials",   "The Daring Deeds of Good and Bad Women"  (wish I could find that one) ,   "The Hangman of Newgate",  "Barney Riordan, or the Adventures of a Bashful Irishman",  "The Perfect Gentleman",  "The Ladies Manual of Fancy Work",  "Courtship Made Easy" and what I'm sure was a classic "Blunders in Behavior Corrected" (bet this would be useful by today's politicians).    Most of these could be ordered by mail for less than a dollar a copy.

But back to the songs - a treasure trove  with traditional classics like "Molly Bawn", "The Exile of Erin", "Kathleen Mavourneen", and "The Irish Jaunting Car" - along with many long forgotten songs like "The Land of Potatoes", "Dorans Ass",  and "The Wake of Teddy the Tiller".   

It will take a while to read them all -  which will keep me busy during the pandemic - and I may perhaps add a tune to a few to try and revive them.

In  many of the forgotten songs I found some golden nuggets of verse - here's one of my favorites from the song "Good Morrow to your Nightcap".  ( A  precursor to the session tune of similar name?)

Last Night, A Little Bowsy

With Whisky, Ale, and Cider

I asked young Betty Blowsy

To let me sit beside her

Her anger rose, as sour as sloes*

The little gipsy cocked her nose

So here I rid away to bid

Good morrow to your Nightcap

*Sloes are the bitter fruit of the blackthorn and used to make Sloe Gin 

 

Civil War Songs and the Irish

Part 1

 

“These Days will be remembered by America’s loyal sons,

If it hadn’t been for Irishmen, what would your Union done?

Hand to hand we fought them, out in the blazing sun

Stripped to the pants we did advance, at the Battle of Bull Run”

Prior to the first shots of the Civil War, the Irish in America were a favorite butt of many a joke that poked fun at them as an inferior race.   “Paddy” and “Mick” were pictured in song as lazy, stupid, drunken idiots from many stage performers and examples of this abound in the sheet music of the 1850’s - the era of "No Irish Need Apply".       

The above song, a folk verse from the 1860’s,  shows that the tide was turning in the culture.  This music of the Civil War featuring  the Irish Brigade and the Fighting 69th would play a big part in  making these stereotypes diminish and eventually disappear.

Dr. Catherine Bateson has done extensive studies on the music of the Civil War that featured the Irish.   Her graduate thesis focused on the  sentiments of Irish American Civil War songs and music. She studied the way in which Irish singing culture influenced American musical culture in the mid-nineteenth century and how song was used to express the wartime experiences of the Irish diaspora in America.

It was interesting to learn from her work that there were over 100 songs written during the war that featured the Irish Brigade, the 69th, or its famous Generals Michael Corcoran and Thomas Meagher.    

Dr. Bateson also speculated that this music from the Civil War is how Irish Music became “Americanized” much in the same way that the war experience of the Irish was critical to their assimilation into American Society   Take the “Gallant Sons of Erin” - one of the first of the era to show the Irish as brave:

“You, Soldiers brave, pray pay attention: gentle folks, grand condescention,

While in this song I will make mention of the sons of Erin;

Whose brave behavior do excel what pen can write or tongue can tell

The Sixty-Ninth, you know well, are gallant sons of Erin.

"Gallant Sons of Erin" goes on to give a fairly accurate account of the history of the 69th and features its famous leader Michael Corcoran.  This is one of many in this canon of music written during the war – others of note include “Pat Murphy of the Irish Brigade”,  “Corcoran’s Ball”,  “The Irish Volunteer”,  “The Boys of the Irish Brigade” , “The War Song of the 69th” (Sheet cover shown above),  and the “Battle of Bull Run”.   

Music was the CNN of the day in the 1800’s as the stages of all the major cities featured many types of performances.    Minstrels were in their heyday, but many singers and groups like the Hutchinson Family also attracted large audiences to the music halls.     They sang topical songs of the day that told stories of the war and those fighting it.     Music of the war was quite popular.   

The power of song also made these messages memorable and helped to form the opinions of the listeners.   Plus, the wide distribution of sheet music put these songs into the homes of thousands of Northern families where  nightly entertainments featuring song were common.   

These songs portrayed  the Irish as brave soldiers -  loyal to the Union cause and willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to preserve the Union.    They certainly had the  effect of changing the  perception and acceptance of the Irish by the American people.

Perhaps the best example of the attitude towards the Irish coming full circle was a song performed by a popular singer of the day - Joe English (a pause for irony).   He wrote the song “Paddy and the No-Nothings” that featured this verse:

“The President called on the land for an Army,

And straightway to arms each patriot flew

And they found that the men that they had scorned and slighted

The Irish Brigade to the Union was true”